28/03/2018

119 Farringdon Road has celebrated reaching its highest point. The AHMM design team joined the construction team from McLaren and representatives from client Viridis in a ceremony held on Thursday 22 March. The mixed use building replaces the former Guardian newspaper headquarters and is AHMM’s second intervention on Farringdon Road in recent years, following its refurbishment of 20 Farringdon Road completed in 2107. The new office-led scheme includes affordable workspace, hospitality and retail set within new and enhanced areas of public realm that re-establish connections to historic streets and spaces.

22/03/2018

Last week the jury for the RIBA International Prize visited the University of Amsterdam’s Roeterseiland Campus, reinvented by AHMM and completed earlier this year. The campus, now home to the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences and the Faculty of Law, has been redeveloped from an incomplete masterplan by Norbert Gawronski, who originally designed the two main existing buildings that have been retained and redeveloped to provide new teaching spaces, lecture theatres, meeting rooms, social spaces and libraries, alongside new public realm and previously concealed canalscape. The International Prize is awarded to a building by an architect anywhere in the world which exemplifies design excellence, architectural ambition and delivers meaningful social impact, and this year’s winner will be announced in November. Find out more here.

15/03/2018

AHMM has become the first architecture practice to sponsor the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust’s Building Futures programme, providing funding as well as mentoring for aspiring young architects from underrepresented backgrounds. The sponsorship campaign will enable the Trust to establish a new London-wide mentoring programme specific to the built environment and develop its Social Value Enhancement programmes. AHMM Director Jonathan Hall will also be running this year’s London Marathon with the Stephen Lawrence Trust team, raising funds to support the work of the organisation. You can sponsor Jonathan here. Established in 1998 in memory of Stephen Lawrence, who was an aspiring architect, the Trust has awarded over 120 bursaries to disadvantaged young people wishing to pursue a career in architecture, and has expanded the support to include mentoring, work opportunities and affordable accommodation for students. Find out more here.

08/03/2018

Three AHMMers have set off on the Club Peloton Cycle to MIPIM this morning. Associate director Cormac Farrelly, associate Lloyd Spencer and architectural assistant Oliver Dyson will be cycling up to 1500km from London to Cannes, and as in 2017 AHMM has also sponsored en-route snacks and treats for all Club Peloton cyclists. Each year the event raises money for charities including Coram, and this time half of funds raised by AHMM will be given to our charity of the year, the Alder Centre for Child Bereavement. Oliver will be guest posting on AHMM’s Instagram throughout the ride - you can follow the team’s progress here.

07/03/2018

London Borough of Tower Hamlets’ Strategic Development Committee has granted planning permission for the council’s new civic centre in Whitechapel. The council will be moving from its current headquarters at East India Dock to the Grade II listed former Royal London Hospital, a well-known landmark in the East End. The move will consolidate a number of council offices into one location and offer a broad range of public services to the borough’s residents, including a new library, a cafe and reception facilities. The former hospital building will be restored and a new build extension added along its southern edge. The extension will provide six upper levels of open plan office for council staff and partner organisations, and at ground level a new council chamber and associated meeting facilities will form the borough’s democratic focus. The project is due to start on site later this year with completion programmed for late 2021.

01/03/2018

Despite the freezing temperatures, Notting Dale Village Phase 3 – known as The George Building – celebrated reaching its highest point on Wednesday (28 February). The George Building joins the Yellow Building (phase 1) and the White Building and Studio Building (phase 2) at the Notting Dale Village site beside the West Cross Route. On completion the George will offer 60,000sqft of commercial office and retail space and a separate nine unit residential building. The ceremony was attended by director Simon Allford and the AHMM design team, as well as Cliff Thomas, managing director of Kier Construction, the main contractor and client Peter Simon from Adena Properties, who completed the ceremonial topping out with his two daughters.